


Youth Program for Mutant Gangsters

by VampireLycanthrope



Series: If you prick us, do we not bleed? [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Gen, It's spelt Jaeger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-14 01:17:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13582938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampireLycanthrope/pseuds/VampireLycanthrope
Summary: Armin is a mutant in a society that preaches genetic purity. Since learning this and being kicked out of home, he was taken in by his uncle who runs a mutant gang. It's not a normal life, but it's a stable one.Four years later, genetic bias slaps him, and his two best friends, in the face.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is visibly inspired by cannon, while being vastly different.  
> In the interests of not confusing anyone's expectations, Eren was adopted by the Ackermans rather than the other way around. I tried the other way, as well as having both families but it felt shoehorned.  
> No, the entire fic will not be written in second person, but this chapter refused to be written any other way.  
> Note the 'graphic depictions of violence' tag.

When you were younger, you probably had one or two best friends. You may have had sleepovers with them, perhaps after a birthday party. You may have felt like an outcast in many ways, but having your friends to fall back on made everything better.

Your best friend is adopted, which you can relate to, because while not conventionally, you were adopted too. His adopted sister is shy, but really sweet. Her mum is Japanese. In all the times you've been to her house, you've acquired a taste for Japanese food. Her dad's really tall, and hunts, because they live just outside town. He's a good-natured guy though. He plays along with your kids games even though he's a grown up.

But what if you woke up one sleepover, too hot, breathing something sour and airless? How long would it take you to realise the house was on fire? Would you be left with enough time to wake your friends, and escape?

What if, when you got out, her parents weren't there? Mikasa runs back in after them, while Eren runs after a man who looked like he set the fire. Who do you follow?

Eren, of course. His situation has more variables, and therefore is more dangerous.

On your side: Eren, 10 yrs, decent physical shape but nothing exceptional. Angry and determined. Weapons: Mr Ackerman's hunting knife tied to a stick.

Armin, also ten, some combat training but physically below average. Some strategy training.

On theirs: two men, one with a knife wound in the gut. Weapons unknown, but since they deliberately burned a house down, we should assume they're armed.

Terrain: narrow road on the outskirts of town. Steep bank to the left, crop field to the right. No cars nearby.

When you're at a disadvantage, you do something they won't expect.

Eren's spear snaps, and he's left holding just a knife. The first man is likely to die from that many stab wounds, but the second is now running towards him.

What would you do?

Armin uses the bank to boost himself higher, and throw his entire body at the man, one arm raised to protect his throat. He botches the landing completely, but the man loses his balance and Eren uses the distraction to go in with his knife.

Eren is screaming as he stabs the man repeatedly.

“Eren, he's dead! We need to help Mikasa!”

It takes his eyes a moment to focus, but they do, he nods and runs back towards the house. He coughs as he goes.

Now it's unlikely that your uncle runs a gang, but if he did, you would know what common streetfighting injuries look like. You'd know that your best friend's face turning blue as he gasps, the wince on every breath, the seemingly superficial wounds in his chest, (the man was armed, of course he was.) are likely signs of a collapsed lung. You'd have watched the mad scientist/doctor of the gang treat one before, but you wouldn't be confident replicating the procedure. You're only ten. So you call the gang doctor, and now you're running back to the house where your other best friend is trying to drag her parents' bodies from the flames. You don't know if they're alive. When you ask, she only glares, so you help her.

Never drop your guard. That's how you see the third man, heading for Eren, where he's collapsed outside. That's enough to get Mikasa out of the burning house. She stabs the man with a trowel and no fanfare. She doesn't bother going back inside for her partially-cremated parents. She stands, holding the bloody trowel, like a bullet about to be fired. Like a gangster you know.

You'd forgotten just how unstable your life can be.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Eren realised it didn't hurt as much, and opened his eyes.

“Hi there! My name's Hanji, and I'm Armin's doctor! May I ask a few questions about your regenerative ability?”

“my...” he couldn't even see the doctor's eyes through those glasses “my what?”

“How fast you're healing. Has this happened before?” They rummaged through a cabinet, and pulled out a mirror, which they held up to the cuts on his chest. Eren watched them closing, fading from red to pink to the same colour as the rest of his skin.

“uh, no. never”

“Fascinating!” they grabbed one of many notebooks scattered about, all identical but for the stains on the cover “That would suggest it activated in direct response to your injuries! Have you ever had a severe injury before?”

“I broke my foot, jumping out of a tree?”

“And how long did that take to heal?”

“Ages. I couldn't play tag”

“Not accelerated then...” they made more notes, at odd angles across the page. “And do you feel any different now, from-”

“I'd like Eren back now” Mikasa's small frame strode through the door with the same death glare as her mother would wear when the children were being especially difficult. Except with a lot more death. “Please.”

“Mikasa, right? I'd love to ask a few questions about any unusual experiences you've been having!”

“I've got _It_. What else is there to say. Eren”

Eren took the opportunity to slip away from the nice-but-possibly-insane doctor.

“Mikasa? What happened?”

She led the way through a computer room, and up a flight of stairs “My parents are dead, our house burned down, and everyone here is a mutant. Including Armin”

“You too? That's great!”

Mikasa's eyes were cool, and dark “I wanted to live on the edge of town, and garden, and hunt in the forest. I didn't want _It_ to be anything more than a family story.”

Eren met her eyes with his own. “Do they care? Maybe my father really was a mutant, but the people who killed my mum didn't know that, they just guessed! Whether you had _It_ or not, they would've attacked you anyway, just because you might! They don't deserve anything, and I'm proud to be exactly what they were afraid I would be! I'll show them!”

Mikasa looked down “let's just find Armin”

The stairs came out in a main room, where Armin's feet were visible over the back of a sofa. Eren tiptoed round to where his friend was almost entirely upside-down, reading a book about nerd stuff.

“Hey, Armin”

Armin startled, and rotated to the right way up.

“Eren! How did it go? Are you okay?”

Eren perched on the arm of the sofa, suddenly realising that he didn't have a shirt on.

“Yeah. Apparently I heal, like, really fast?”

“Oh. That's actually a good power for someone as reckless as you”

“I'm not reckless!”

Mikasa adopted another of her mother's looks. It was the 'you're lying to me' look. Eren got to his feet “I'm just saying! What's the point in pretending to be something we're not? What's the point in not bringing the fight to them, if we know it's going to happen! I want to live on my own terms, not whatever some purist who thinks they're better than me decides my place is!” He swung round to face Armin “Everyone here's a mutant, right? Can I join?”

“You don't even know what you're asking to join”

“Shut up Mikasa. Armin, what is this place?”

“well, you know mutants have it really hard, living normally?”

“We know. My father had relatives, so he told us about things like that”

“So,” Armin tapped the sofa, then looked back up at his friends “So you know that all successful mutants are criminals, to some degree?” Neither responded, so after a beat, he kept talking “This is a gang. It's better organised than a lot of mutant gangs. Some of our members used to be in those and they make it sound like a group of people who get together to see who stabs who in the back.”

“I want in. Where do I sign up?”

Armin shrugged. “I don't know. My uncle's the boss; I joined via him”

“Okay, I'll ask him.”

Eren bounded across the room. Mikasa stood gracefully, and followed in silence.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ideally Eren's request would be part of this chapter, but this is draft five or six and I want it posted before I go away for half term and I have coursework and three separate sets of lines to learn and I got distracted by the important questions in this fandom like:  
> What's Nanaba's surname? Well Nanaba is a French name and the most common surname in France is Martin so let's go with that.  
> What's Kenny short for? Probably Elkanah.  
> What about a canon AU in which Erwin is just a nutjob conspiracy theorist? I daren't think about it too hard unless I become compelled to write it. (Someone should write this.)  
> Maybe by the time I write the next chapter my brain will be working again. Apologies.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren being Eren.

“Hi, Mr Armin's uncle sir!”

It was three in the morning, and a ten year old Eren Jaeger, shirtless and barefoot, was shouting very loudly. Since he was a close friend of Armin's, Erwin knew him pretty well, and wasn't surprised in the least.

“Eren. You were looking for me?”

“Yes sir! I want to join your gang, sir!”

Erwin let a small smile slip at the enthusiasm. Eren finished what he started, and he did it with all his heart. There were certainly worse qualities to rely on.

“Alright then. Let's talk” He opened the door to his office, but instead of sitting behind the desk, he went to couch, and motioned for Eren to sit next to him. No sense making it a confrontation. Levi, perched in the open window, looked round when they entered. Then he leapt off the windowsill to go on patrol.

Eren was mentally shouting _AWESOME_.

“Why do you want to join us?”

“Because...” Eren clenched his fists. “Because I'm tired of hiding, like this is something to be ashamed of. I want them to know I exist and I'm not sorry. What's the point in being born if I'm not allowed to live?”

Oh Eren. Everything is so simple for you. Difficult, yes, but simple. You just decide what you think is right and do it. There's something pure about the way moderating that never even seems to occur to you.

And stupid, but the whole point of a group is that different people have different strengths.

“That's a good reason.” He then stopped talking to give Eren his jacket, because the boy was shivering. “You've given me an idea”

Eren pulled the jacket around himself and finally sat down. “yeah?”

“I'm thinking of starting a youth program. You could be on it, and Armin. Mikasa too, if she's interested. The gang sorts out housing, and training. You work part time, with longer hours as you get older. At least, that's the gist of it. Worrying about logistics is my job, unless you particularly want to know?”

Eren shook his head. Being woken in the middle of the night, fighting, injuries, and a serious adrenaline crash seemed to have finally caught up with him. “I'd like to join, sir”

“You don't have to call me sir, Eren. It's fine”

“What he means” Levi returned through the window “Is that we already know who's boss, so why bother with formalities. Did I hear that right?” He relaxed into his casual stance, which didn't seem nearly so casual to someone who'd seen him react out of it. “You're bored with the gang and want to run a daycare on the side?”

“It's not daycare! I can fight!”

“Can you now?”

“I just killed two people!”

It made quite the picture, Levi with his usual bored expression, lazy stance and concealed weapons. Eren with his usual angry one, fists clenched in not particularly strategic positions. Erwin didn't bother interrupting.

“Sure brat. When I was your age an entire gang was hired to kill me, and guess who won that encounter”

Eren was developing a serious case of hero worship for Levi over that particular revelation. But in true Eren fashion, he threw a punch instead of backing down. Levi caught his wrist and held it at arms length. He didn't let go when Eren tried to pull his hand back.

“I wasn't ready that time!”

Levi dropped Eren's wrist and spread his arms. Waiting. Eren tried again, and landed flat on his back, breathess.

“Tha-”

Eren scrambled to his feel, gasping.

“That.-Was AWESOME!- -Do it again!”

“You're crazy. Get out”

Eren got out. Levi watched the door close behind him.

“Where did you find _that_ ”

Erwin judged the question not worth answering, sat down at his desk and searched the draws for the various provisional plans he'd made for the youth program. They weren't completely finished because he hadn't expected to need them for at least two years. Powers rarely activate before age fourteen, never before twelve. Hanji had notes on this. _Powers are a huge drain on the body's resources. They just can't be sustained at the same time as a child is growing. Trauma can trigger them early, but it's unlikely because having powers eating up all the resources needed for healthy development doesn't give them a much greater chance of survival long term._

He'd make sure Hanji was keeping a close eye on all three of them. Armin hadn't mentioned anything, but psychic-perceptive abilities are hard to recognise. Erwin himself had thought he was having mood swings, not receiving the emotions of a thousand hormonal teenagers. Headaches might also be a sign.

In any case, he now had to deal with children quite a bit younger than he'd been expecting. Luckily, Hanji and their team had designed the loft extension not long after Armin moved in.

Well, they'd frowned and said “I'm a biologist”.

“Then make Moblit do it”

“He's a hacker.” Hanji had pointed out “No one's an architect”

No one in the nerd division was qualified in what they did anyway, so it didn't matter who read building regs online and designed something to fit them. Erwin had mentioned this, and the extension had eventually happened. No one had needed it at the time, but it made him nervous not to have the contingency.

Now, they could house Eren and Mikasa, and there were two rooms left over just in case. Money wasn't great between now and when the kids started working, but if necessary they could stop buying groceries and just steal everything. It would be good practice for the kids anyway. Erwin made a note of it.

The future matters, and these children would have a future. Maybe it wasn't quite how he had imagined doing this, when he was younger and didn't believe in impossibility, but it was something. It was all he had to give.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Levi was listening in the whole time, he only left because Erwin wanted to talk with Eren alone. He does go on patrols randomly whenever he's in HQ though. His job is security and recon. (He is not an assassin, he just sometimes has orders which involve assassinating people.)   
> Hanji is head of everyone who does nerd stuff, which the others call nerd division.  
> Mike's job is having experience of the mutant underworld, because he lived in it alone for a while before Erwin started the gang.   
> Nanaba's job is to be a jack of all trades wherever she's needed.  
> I should probably actually write the 'gang gets formed' story instead of putting exposition in the notes.  
> I'm pretty sure Isa ends up head of the youth program and I'm also leaning towards her and Nanaba having a relationship even though I don't ship it in canon.  
> (-Does being a mafia hitman mean your sister never gets a date? -I'm not a hitman, this isn't the mafia, and she can date anyone she likes. I'm just warning off all the bastards who might be tempted to take advantage of her.)
> 
> QUESTION:  
> Armin's abilities; short term precognition, ambient retrocognition, or astral projection?


End file.
